United Nations, October 31, 2025 – Algeria abstained from voting on the resolution to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year, during a Security Council session held Friday evening.
Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations, stated following the vote that Algeria chose to abstain “out of a commitment to distance itself responsibly from a text that does not adequately reflect the UN principles regarding decolonization.”
“The application of this principle has allowed a large number of nations to be represented here with us, within the United Nations,” Bendjama added, questioning, “Should we need to recall these self-evident truths?” He further emphasized that “the final decision regarding the future can only belong to the people who remain under colonial rule.”
The Algerian diplomat referenced a previous statement by former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, urging participants to deeply reflect upon it: “Peoples may not be handed about from one sovereignty to another by an international conference or an understanding between rival nations…National aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent.”
Bendjama affirmed Algeria’s commitment “as a neighboring country, with goodwill and a constructive spirit, to negotiating the text of the resolution.” He thanked the United States “for sparing no effort to improve it and reach a consensus.”
The Permanent Representative highlighted improvements made to the original text, including “the reminder of the fundamental parameters for reaching a just and sustainable solution to the Western Sahara conflict, the reaffirmation of the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination, and the commitment of the parties to the conflict to negotiations without preconditions.”
“Unfortunately,” Bendjama concluded, “the text presented to us still suffers from shortcomings and deficiencies. It falls short of the legitimate aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.”
